Irish people

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Irish people
Image:Irishpeople.jpg

Total population	85,000,000 (est.)
Regions with significant populations	Ireland^[1]: 5,081,726 Ireland-born Great Britain^[2]: Irish Born: 794,000 An estimated 6,000,000 have at least one Irish grandparent^[3]: United States^[4]: Irish Ancestry: 34,487,790 Scotch-Irish Ancestry: 5,323,888 (estimates suggest that the true number of Scots-Irish in the USA is more in the region of 27 million, [5] as most Scots-Irish appear to have chosen the "American" ethnic group in the 2000 census. [6]) Canada^[7]: 3,822,665 Australia^[8]: 1,900,000 Argentina ^[9]: 500,000 New Zealand^[10]: 1,000,000 est. Germany: 10,000 **See Demographics of Germany
Language	Irish, English, Ulster Scots
Religion	Roman Catholic, Protestantism <tr> <th style="background-color:#fee8ab;">Related ethnic groups</th> <td style="background-color:#fff6d9;">Scottish, Manx, Welsh, English, Cornish, Bretons, Icelanders, Norwegians</td> </tr>

The Irish are a northwest European ethnic group who originated in Ireland. People of Irish ethnicity outside of Ireland are common in many western countries, and particularly widespread throughout the Anglosphere.

[edit] Descent

Further information: History of Ireland

During the past 9,000 years of inhabitation, Ireland has witnessed many different peoples arrive on its shores. Legendary early arrivals included the Nemedians, the Fomorians, the Firbolgs and the Tuatha Dé Danann, though with the exception of the Firbolgs, they are now treated as deities rather than actual human incursions.

A little over three-quarters (76.9%) of the Irish population belonged to the Catholic Church, 12.34% were Anglican, and 9.2% were Presbyterian. The most important of the minority religions were Methodists at 8%, and ‘others’—Baptists, Brethren, Quakers, etc.—together amounted to less than 1%. By the time of the First World War in 1914, there had been a slight decrease in the number of Catholics (73.86%), and a slight increases in Anglicans (13.13%) and Presbyterians (10.04%). There were also important changes in other congregation sizes: Methodists by 1914 made up 1.42% of the population, and others accounted for 1.55%.

The culture of the aboriginal Irish - though not the population - may have been transformed (or certainly influenced) by the arrival of Celtic culture from continental Europe between 600 BC and 150 BC. Despite assertions to the contrary, only a small number of Celts may or not have ever settled in Ireland. Irish insular culture therefore may have developed as a result of cultural exchange with the Celtic groups that did settle, those on mainland Europe, the peoples of Britain and the native Irish.^{[citation needed]}

The names the ancient peoples of Ireland (creators of the Ceide Fields and Newgrange) used for themselves are not known, nor are their language(s). As late as the middle centuries of the 1st millennium AD the inhabitants of Ireland did not appear to have a collective name for themselves. Ireland itself was known by a number of different names – Banba, Scotia, Fódla, Ériu by the islanders; Hibernia and Scotia to the Romans; Ierne to the Greeks.

Likewise, the terms for people from Ireland – all from Roman sources – in the late Roman era were varied. They included Attacotti, Scoti, and Gael. This last word, derived from the Welsh gwyddel (meaning raiders), was eventually adopted by the Irish for themselves. However, as a term it is on a par with Viking, as it describes an activity (raiding, piracy) and its proponents, not their actual ethnic affiliations. The general term Pretani (or the prefix prit-) was sometimes applied to all the indigenous inhabitants of the British Isles ("Pretannic Isles") by the Greeks.<ref>Pytheas c.330BC: "Isles of the Prettanike"; Diodorus Siculus c.50BC: "those of the Pretani who inhabit the country called Iris (Ireland)"; Later Romanised as "Brittania"</ref> The equivalent Roman prefix for these celtic islands (which they called Britannias and Britanniae) was Brit-[11] (with similar pronunciation to prit-), and is the historical origin of the words Briton and British in Old English. Somewhat ironically, the word British is now more commonly associated with predominantly Anglo-Saxon^{[citation needed]} United Kingdom than with its insular origins. However, Greek sources at the time cannot claim to have had an in-depth understanding of the ethnic nature of Ireland and Britain.

The term Irish and Ireland is derived from the Érainn, a people who once lived in what is now central and south Munster. Possibly their proximity to overseas trade with western Britain, Gaul and Hispania led to the name of this one people to be applied to the whole island and its inhabitants.

A variety of historical ethnic groups have inhabited the island, including the Airgialla, Fir Ol nEchmacht, Delbhna, Fir Bolg, Érainn, Eóganachta, Mairtine, Conmaicne, Soghain and Ulaid.

The shared language and culture of these peoples (and indeed the peoples of Atlantic Europe) is one that can be placed among the European peoples. Current genetic research supports the idea that people living in the Britain and Ireland are on average mainly descended from the indigenous European Paleolithic (Old Stone Age hunter gatherers) population (about 80%), with a smaller neolithic (New Stone Age farmers) input (about 20%).[14] Paleolithic Europeans seem to have been a homogenous population, possibly due to a population bottleneck (or near-extinction event) on the Iberian peninsula, where a small human population is thought to have survived the glaciation, and then expanded into Europe during the Mesolithic period. The assumed genetic imprint of Neolithic incomers is seen as a cline, with stronger neolithic representation in the east of Europe and stronger paleolithic representation in the west of Europe. ^[9] The frequencies of Y-chromosome haplotypes in the Irish population are similar to that of most other populations of Atlantic Europe, especially the Basques of northern Spain and southern France.^[8] ^[10] Y-chromosome analysis also seems to indicate that the Vikings that settled in Dublin came from Norway rather than Denmark.^[10] Mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited through the female line, shows part of the maternal ancestors of the Irish to be of broad north European origin.

Other recent evidence, involving a very large number of DNA markers distributed over the entire genome, suggests that most Irish people of today are genetically affiliated with people from other Celtic Nations, many Atlantic European populations and some other North European populations, while modern Spaniards and Portuguese have more Mediterranean inputs.^[6] ^[7] Genetic research shows that since humans settled in Ireland in the Paleolithic and Mesolithic times the main incoming populations were of broad North European origins, however in Spain the main incoming populations following Paleolithic times were of Mediterranean origins, although the Paleolithic element, also known as Basque or Iberian, continues to be the clearly dominant one in both areas to this day [12].

In fact, in two recently published books, Blood of the Isles, by Brian Sykes and Origins of Britons, By Stephen Oppenheimer, both authors state that according to genetic evidence, most Irish people and most Britons descend from the Iberian Peninsula, as a result of different migrations that took place during the Mesolithic and the Neolithic and which laid the foundations for the present-day populations in the British Isles, indicating an ancient relationship among the populations of Atlantic Europe.

One legend states that the Irish were descended from Míl Espáine (coined Milesius, from Latin "Miles Hispaniae", meaning "Soldier of Hispania"). The character is almost certainly a mere personification of a supposed migration by a group or groups from Hispania to Ireland, but it is supported by the fact that the Celtiberian language is more closely related to insular Celtic than to any other. This legend is the source of the term "Milesian" in reference to the Irish. If this invasion was as large as the mythology would suggest, it would account for the genetic similarity of the Northern Iberian populations and the Irish.

The Vikings were mainly Norwegians and despite their notorious reputation in Irish history, did not settle in particularly large numbers nor did they significantly alter the Irish polity. The arrival of the Normans brought Welsh, Flemish, Normans, Anglo-Saxons and Bretons, most of whom became assimilated into Irish culture and polity by the 15th century. The late medieval era saw Scottish gallowglass families of mixed Gaelic-Norse -Pict descent settle, mainly in the north; due to similarities of language and culture they too were assimilated. The Plantations of Ireland and in particular the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century introduced great numbers of Scottish, English as well as French Huguenots as colonists. Despite these divergent backgrounds most of their descendants consider themselves Irish – even where they are aware of such ancestry – mainly due to their lengthy presence in Ireland.

Historically, religion, politics and ethnicity became intertwined in Ireland, with Protestants generally identifying as British and Irish and most Roman Catholics as exclusively Irish.^{[citation needed]} This is far less true today, although connections between ethnicity and religion can still be observed - especially in Northern Ireland. Four polls taken between 1989 and 1994 revealed that when asked to state their national identity, over 79% of Northern Ireland Protestants replied "British" or "Ulster" with 3% or less replying "Irish", while over 60% of Northern Ireland Catholics replied "Irish" with 13% or less replying "British" or "Ulster".<ref>in, Social Attitudes in Northern Ireland: The Fifth Report</ref> A survey in 1999 showed that 72% of Northern Ireland Protestants considered themselves "British" and 2% "Irish", with 68% of Northern Ireland Catholics considering themselves "Irish" and 9% "British".<ref>Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey</ref> The survey also revealed that 78% of Protestants and 48% of all respondents felt "Strongly British", while 77% of Catholics and 35% of all respondents felt "Strongly Irish". 51% of Protestants and 33% of all respondents felt "Not at all Irish", while 62% of Catholics and 28% of all respondents felt "Not at all British".<ref>Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey</ref><ref>Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey</ref>

It is thought that the majority of the Irish population is descended from the initial settlers who arrived after the end of the last Ice Age, as can be seen in the high presence of the genetic marker known as R1b among the Irish. The genetic marker R1b averages at 90% amongst Irish Y-Chromosomes, Welsh Y-Chromosomes and amongst the Y-Chromosomes of the Basques of Northern Spain and South-Western France. Haplotype R1b averages 78% in the British Isles, 73% in Spain, 64% in Belgium, 55% in France and 40% in Germany.

For the global genetic make-up of the Irish and other peoples, see also: [13] [14] and [15]

[edit] Surnames

See also: Irish name

It is common for some Irish surnames to be anglicised, meaning that they were changed to sound more Hiberno-English. This usually occurred with Irish immigrants arriving in the United States during the 19th century and the early 20th century, and and when British settlers arrived in Ireland.

It is also very common for people of Gaelic origin to have surnames beginning with " Ó" or "Mc" (less frequently "Mac" and occasionally shortened to just "Ma" at the beginning of the name). "O" was originally Ó which in turn came from Ua (originally hUa), which means "grandson", or "descendant" of a named person. For example, the descendants of High King of Ireland Brian Boru were known as the Ua Brian (O'Brien) clan. The prefix is often incorrectly written as O', using an English apostrophe instead of the Irish fada mark.

"Mac" or "Mc" means "son of"; many names also begin with this. There is no basis in fact for the claim that Mac is Scottish and Mc is Irish: Mc is simply an abbreviation of Mac. However, while both Mac and O' prefixes are Gaelic in origin, Mc is more common in Ulster and O' is far less common in Scotland than it is in Ireland. Some common surnames that begin with Ó are: Ó Reilly, Ó Neill, Ó Brien, Ó Connor, Ó Hickey, Ó Leary, Ó Shaughnessy, Ó Donnell, Ó Dowd, Ó Toole, Ó Meara, Ó Malley, Ó Hara, and Ó Bradaigh,Ó Sheanacháin . Some names that begin with Mac are: MacDermott, MacCarthy, MacDonough, MacDonnell, MacQuillan, MacGuinness, MacLaughlin, MacGuire, MacMahon and MacCormack.

"Fitz" is a version of the French word fils, used by the Normans, meaning son, which is the equivalent to the Scandinavian way to name a person. (It must be remembered that the Normans, although coming at that time from present day England, were descendents of Vikings who settled in Normandy and had thoroughly adopted French ways and language.)

A few names that begin with Fitz are: FitzGerald, FitzSimmons, FitzGibbons, Fitzpatrick and FitzHenry, most of whom descend from the inital Norman settlers. Exceptions occur in a small number of Irish families of Gaelic origin who came to use a Norman form of their original surname - witness Mac Giolla Phádraig becoming FitzPatrick - while some assimilated so well that the Gaelic name was dropped in favor of a new, Hiberno-Norman form. Cases in this category include Mac Gilla Mo-Cholomoc of Dublin becoming FitzDermot (after Dermot or Diarmaid Mac Gilla Mo-Cholomoc).

Other Norman families derived their name from places or people in Ireland. This was the case of the family of Athy (see Tribes of Galway) who took their surname, de Athy, from the town of that name in Leinster. More common, however, was that the Normans became 'Hiberniores Hibernis ipsis' and in this process the Fitzmaurices became Mac Muiris, the Fitzsimons became Mac Síomóin and Mac an Ridire, Fitzgerald became Mac Gearailt, Bermingham became Mac Fheorais, Nangle became Mac Coisdeala, Staunton became Mac an Mhíleadha, and so forth.

In the late 12th century and 13th century Norman, Welsh, English, Flemish and Breton peoples arrived in Ireland at the request of Diarmait Mac Murchada, King of Leinster, and took over parts of the island. During the next three hundred years, they intermarried with ruling Irish clans, adopted Irish culture and the Irish language and as the English put it "became more Irish than the Irish themselves". Another common Irish surname of Norman Irish origin is the 'de' habitational prefix, meaning 'of the' and originally signifying prestige and land ownership. Many Irish surnames share this: de Búrca (Burke), de Brún, de Barra, de Stac, de Tiúit, de Faoite(White), de Paor (Power), and so forth.

It should be emphasised, especially with Gaelic surnames, there may be two or more unrelated families bearing the same or similar surnames. For example, there were at least nine separate Ó Ceallaigh septs, all unrelated. The Mac Lochlainn, Ó Mael Sechlainn, Ó Mael Sechnaill, Ó Conchobair Mac Loughlin and Mac Diarmata Mac Loughlin families, all distinct, are now all subsumed together as MacLoughlin. The full surname usually indicated which family was in question, something that has being diminished with the loss of prefixes such as Ó and Mac. In addition, in Classical Irish when a Mac surname was followed by a name which began with a vowel, the Mac became Mag. This explains why one will still see the older spelling of Mac Aonghusa (McGuinness) as Mag Aonghusa, Mac Uidhir (Maguire) as Mag Uidhir, and so forth.

Furthermore, different branches of a family with the same surname sometimes used distinguishing epithets, which sometimes became surnames in their own right. Hence the chief of the clan Ó Cearnaigh (Kearney) was referred to as An tSionnach (Fox), which his descendants use to this day.

Similar surnames are often found in Scotland for many reasons, such as the use of a common language and mass Irish immigration to Scotland in the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries. Also Scottish surnames are noticeable in some Catholics in Ireland, particularly in Ulster, due to intermarriage and pre-Reformation immigration.

[edit] Personal names (forenames)

Personal names in modern Ireland are derived from traditional Irish names, anglicised Irish names, British names and, more recently, popular American names.

The recent years have seen a major decline in most Irish names for babies being born in the Republic of Ireland. While in the past names such as Patrick (a name of Roman origin), Séamus (the Irish form of James) and others were almost ubiquitous in any family, today they are among the rarer names for children and the same goes for most other Irish names, although there are a few notable exceptions. Conor remains very popular, having topped the Most Popular new names for babies list many years running. The name Jack, which is an Irish diminutive of John, James and Jacob, has grown in popularity. Seán, also derived from the Hebrew root John, remains one of the most popular Irish names. Male names from across the Atlantic Ocean have seen a surge in popularity from the mid 1990s, names such as Taylor being a good example of this. There are many other Anglicised Irish names which remain popular, such as Ryan, Neil and others remaining on the Names List. Biblical names also form a large composition, such as Matthew, Philip and Paul.^{[citation needed]}

Aside from Seán other male names from the Norman-Irish tradition include Gearóid (Gerard), Piaras (Pearse), Éamonn and Liam and indeed the very use of the name Pádraig (Patrick) is a Norman tradition. Prior to the Normans the Gaeil, out of reverence to Saint Patrick, named their children Giolla Phádraig, the servant of Patrick. Piaras is an interesting example of how both Norman and English traditions collided. Piaras is from the Norman-French Piers which itself is derived from the Latin, Petrus. Piaras was a common name in late medieval and early modern Ireland. However, with the expansion of British rule the English name Peter, which shares the same Latin root, began to replace it. Today, the Irish version (Peadar) of the English name (Peter), tends to be more common than the Irish version (Piaras) of the older Norman name (Piers). Thus, families with Norman surnames where Piaras has been a traditional name have broken the link to their historic tradition. An exception to this would be in the Gaeltachtaí where, for example, Piaras would still be very common, especially in the Corca Dhuibhne area of County Kerry due to the legacy of Piaras Feiritéar, where Piaras remains a very common name in the Feiritéar family. The maintenance of such traditions in personal names outside the Gaeltachtaí would generally be a sign of more educated parents. In an analogous way to Piaras, Irish families of patrilineal Gaelic descent sometimes use the Irish version (Séarlas) of the English name, Charles, rather than the name with a much longer vintage in their families, Cathal. Where Cathal is used it is often wrongly termed "the Irish for Charles" in a similar way to which the ancient Irish personal name, Áine, is wrongly said to be an Irish version of the English word, Anne. Rather, both Cathal and Áine are two very ancient Irish names with no etymological link whatsoever to the above English names.^{[citation needed]}

For females, the traditional Irish names are far more popular, although their spellings are not always uniform. Names such as Mary, Ann, and Eileen which were hugely common in the past have now declined, although there was always much more variety in female names than in male. Today Aoife, Aisling, Ciara, Sinéad, and Orla are more popular as traditional Irish names, while foreign names such as Ella, Emma, Lisa, Rachel and Isabelle have seen a rise in popularity. Some older names have maintained their popularity, such as Sarah, Kate, Catherine and Louise. Female names from the Norman-Irish tradition are widespread and among the most traditional of Irish personal names. In a similar way to the name Pádraig (Patrick), in the pre-Norman tradition Máire did not exist but rather Maol Muire, devotee of the virgin Mary, was the normal Irish usage. Other common Irish female names of Norman origin (with their anglicised form) are Caitríona (Catherine, Katrina), Síle (Sheila), Caitlín (Kathleen), Cáit (Kate), Gearóidín (Geraldine), Sinéad (Jane, Janet etc) and Siobhán (Susan, June etc). English names such as Victoria, Elizabeth, and Rebecca, while never hugely popular have also seen a decline in popularity, while some Irish names such as Bridget, Una and Maureen have dropped off the list altogether.^{[citation needed]}

There can be major differentiations between regions. A personal name can still often indicate where a person, more precisely a man, is from. This is accounted for chiefly in the sainthood cults which have been traditional throughout the island. For instance, Fionnbharr is more common in Cork, Finnian in Meath and Donegal, Fionán in Kerry, and so forth, where these particular saints are institutionalised in local tradition. Seaghan remains the Ulster Irish spelling of Seán, though Séan, with the fada over the E, is also common. Páidí is more common in the Kerry Gaeltacht than elsewhere, and so forth. As in the Feiritéar family above, the first name can also often indicate a family tradition as well as place.

See List of Irish given names

[edit] Recent history

In Northern Ireland about 53.1% of the population are Protestant (21.1% Presbyterian, 15.5% Church of Ireland, 3.6% Methodist, 6.1% Other Christian) whilst a large minority are Roman Catholic at approximately 43.8%, as of 2001.

After Ireland became subdued by England in 1603 the English – under James I of England (reigned 1603 – 1625), Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell (term 1653 – 1658), William III of England (reigned 1689 – 1702) and their successors – began the settling of Protestant English, and later Scottish colonists into Ireland, where they settled most heavily in the northern province of Ulster. However, they did not intermarry heavily or integrate with the native Irish like the Normans did centuries earlier.^{[citation needed]}

Tens of thousands^{[citation needed]} of native Irish were displaced during the 17th century Plantations of Ireland from parts of Ulster, and were replaced by English and Scottish planters. Only in the major part of Ulster did the plantations prove long-lived; the other three provinces (Connaught, Leinster, and Munster) remained heavily Catholic, and eventually, the Protestant populations of those three provinces would decrease drastically as a result of the political developments in the early 20th century in Ireland.

It is predominately religion, history and political differences (Irish nationalism versus British unionism) that divide the two communities, as many of the Scotch-Irish settlers are in part of Celtic origin themselves and therefore related to their Irish Catholic neighbours.

Conversely, many Irish people would have at least some English or Scottish (gallowglass families from the Highlands) ancestry.

In 1921, with the formation of the Irish Free State, six counties in the northeast remained in the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland.

"Ulster-Irish" surnames tend to differ based on which community families originate from. Ulster Protestants tend to have either English or Scottish surnames while Roman Catholics tend to have Irish surnames, although this is not always the case. There are many Catholics in Northern Ireland with surnames such as Emerson, Whitson, Livingstone, Hardy, Tennyson, MacDonald (however this surname is also common with Highland Roman Catholics in Scotland), Dunbar, Groves, Legge, Scott, Gray, Page, Stewart, Rowntree, Henderson, et al; almost certainly due to intermarriage. According to Lecky, conversions also occurred to a lesser extent, which were mostly class-based; Catholics sometimes become Protestant to keep their lands and titles or to gain advantages, while some Protestants who were from the lower classes or who had fallen on hard times would become Catholic. A report commissioned by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs states that:

The government of the Republic of Ireland notes that prejudice against the Irish is still found in some parts of the United Kingdom.

The post-1945 Irish population has therefore been caught between these two images. On the one hand their migrant experience and cultural difference has been denied because they are a ‘white’, ‘British Isles’ population group. On the other anti-Irish stereotypes persist in British society and have been fuelled by anti-IRA fears over the last thirty years.

Such prejudice is sometimes expressed in the form of Irish jokes.

[edit] Irish diaspora

Main article: Irish diaspora

The Irish diaspora consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and nations of the Caribbean such as Barbados. These countries, known as the Anglosphere, all have large minorities of Irish descent (except the Irish Republic itself of course) who in addition form the core of the Catholic Church in those countries. The diaspora contains over 80 million people; it is believed that roughly one third of the Presidents of the United States of America had at least some Irish descent, while Charles Carroll of Carrollton (whose Irish born grandfather Daniel had left Britain to escape Catholic persecution) was the sole Catholic signatory of the American Declaration of Independence. [16]

There are also large Irish communities in some mainland European countries, notably in France and Germany, as well as Brazil, Argentina, and other South American countries. The classic image of an Irish immigrant is led occasionally by racist and anti-Catholic stereotypes. Irish Americans number around 40 million. They are the second largest self-reported ethnic group in the United States, after German Americans. Large numbers of Irish people emigrated to Latin America in the 18th and 19th centuries. Their descendants include Che Guevara, Vicente Fox and Bernardo O'Higgins. One important Irish group in Latin American history are the "Patricios", or Saint Patrick's Battalion, a group of European Catholic immigrants, mostly Irish, who left the American side during the Mexican-American War and joined the Mexican Army. Although many of them were caught and executed by the American government, some escaped and remained in Mexico. The battalion are commemorated in Mexico on Saint Patricks's day and on September 12, the anniversary of the first executions.

[edit] Notable Irish people (selection)

See List of Irish people for a more complete listing, including notable people with Irish heritage.

[edit] Literature & the arts

Francis Bacon - painter
John Banville - novelist; winner of the 2005 booker prize
Samuel Beckett - playwright and novelist; Nobel prize laureate for literature
Brendan Behan - dramatist
Louis le Brocquy - painter
Patrick Brontë - author & father of the Brontë sisters
Eoin Colfer - author of the well-known Artemis Fowl series
Samuel Ferguson - poet and antiquarian
Cedric Gibbons - renowned Hollywood art director, and founder of the Oscars
Oliver Goldsmith - author and playwright
Augusta, Lady Gregory - playwright, co-founder of Abbey Theatre

Image:Lady gregory.jpg

Seamus Heaney - poet; 1995 Nobel Prize laureate for literature
Nuala Holloway - painter
James Joyce - author of Ulysses
Patrick Kavanagh - poet and author
Paul Kane - artist
C.S. Lewis - author
James Clarence Mangan - poet
David Marcus - author and literary advocate
Violet Florence Martin - author
Tom Murphy - playwright
Flann O'Brien - author
Dáibhí Ó Bruadair - Bardic poet
Sean O'Casey - dramatist & political activist
Máirtín Ó Direáin - poet
Liam O'Flaherty - author
Séamus Ó Grianna -Poet and author
George Bernard Shaw - dramatist; Nobel Prize laureate for literature
James Simmons - Poet and author
Bram Stoker - author of Dracula
Jonathan Swift - satirist & author of Gulliver's Travels
John Millington Synge - playwright
Ninette de Valois - ballerina & founder of the Royal Ballet
Oscar Wilde - playwight, poet & wit
Jack Butler Yeats - artist
John Butler Yeats - artist
William Butler Yeats - poet and dramatist; Nobel Prize laureate for literature

[edit] Media

Gay Byrne - former presenter of the Late Late Show
Charles Gavan Duffy - Journalist & founder of The Nation
Joe Duffy - radio personality
Veronica Guerin - journalist murdered for exposing Dublin drugs gangs
Neil Jordan - film director
Danny La Rue - performer & female impersonator
Derek Mooney- presenter of Mooney Goes Wild
Graham Norton - TV personality & actor
Tom O'Brannigan - Late Night Talk Presenter
Ardal O'Hanlon (Comedian and well-known from Fr. Ted)
Carmel Quinn - singer & TV personality
Ryan Tubridy - TV and radio personality

[edit] Military

John Barry - "Father of the American Navy"
Garret Barry, General of Irish Confederates in Munster, d. 1647
James Butler - stateman and soldier
Roger Casement - revolutionary
William Coffey - war hero
Tim Collins - former CO 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment
Sir Eyre Coote - former Commander-in-Chief, British forces, India
Blair "Paddy" Mayne - founding member of the SAS
Duke of Wellington - solider and statesman
Ambrose O'Higgins - Baron of Ballynary, Marquis of Osorno, Governor of Chile and Viceroy of Peru.
William Brown - Founder of the Argentinian Navy.
Thomas Francis Meagher - one of the founders of the 1848 Young Irelander Rebellion and American Civil War Union general.
Juan MacKenna - Creator of the Corps of Military Engineers of the Chilean Army
Michael Collins - Commander-in-Chief of the Irish Free State forces in 1922 before being killed in action.

[edit] Music

Altan - traditional band
Aslan (rock band)
B*Witched - all-girl pop band
Máire Ní Bhraonáin - singer
Bell X1 - soft rock
Boyzone - boy band
Edward Bunting - first collector of traditional music, 1773 - 1843
Patrick Clancy - musician; member of the Clancy Brothers
The Chieftains - traditional
Clannad - traditional/pop/new-age band
Finghin Collins - pianist
Thomas Connellan - composer
The Corrs - traditional/pop band
Mary Coughlan - traditional singer
Nadine Coyle - singer
The Cranberries - Irish band
Elizabeth Cronin - traditional singer,1879 - 1956
Shaun Davey - composer
Chris de Burgh, singer
Val Doonican - singer
John Lennon - singer/peace activist
Paul McCartney - singer/animal rights activist
Dropkick Murphys - South Boston-based, Irish punk band.
Eithne ní Bhraonáin (Enya) - singer/songwriter
Julie Feeney - composer
John Field - pianist, composer and inventor of the nocturne
Tommy Fleming - singer
Rory Gallagher - guitarist
Flogging Molly - Los Angeles-based, Irish band.
Bob Geldof - Singer and political activist
Catherine Hayes - Opera Singer
Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh - musician/singer
David Holmes - musician, D.J. and composer
Brian Kennedy - Eurovision contestant
Luke Kelly - singer and political activist
Johnny Logan - Eurovision winner
Phil Lynott - singer/songwriter and bass-guitarist
Linda Martin - Eurovision winner
Mickey MacConnell - Singer, Songwriter
Shane MacGowan - singer/songwriter and co-founded of The Pogues
John McCormack - singer/ tenor
Gary Moore - guitarist and rock/blues musician
Van Morrison - singer/songwriter
Paddy Moloney - composer and founder of The Chieftains
Christy Moore - singer/songwriter
My Bloody Valentine - rock band
Ed O'Brien - guitarist
Turlough O'Carolan - harpist and composer
Maura O'Connell - singer
Sinéad O'Connor - singer
Daniel O'Donnell - country singer
Liam O'Flynn - Uilleann piper
Francis O'Neill - Traditional flautist, music collector and publisher in Chicago, 1848 - 1936
Seán Ó Riada - composer, 1931 -1971

Statue of Phillip Lynnot, Grafton Street, Dublin

Carmel Quinn - Singer
Damien Rice - singer/songwriter
Charles Villiers Stanford, composer
Thin Lizzy - rock band
Snow Patrol - indie rock band
U2 - rock band
Andy Irvine

[edit] Philosophy & religion

George Berkeley - idealist philosopher
Saint Brigid of Ireland
Saint Columba - missionary
Edmund Burke - conservative political philosopher and statesman
John Clyn - monk and chronicler
Thomas Croke - Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, early patron of Gaelic Athletic Association
Johannes Scotus Eriugena - philosopher
Saint Malachy - church reformer and prophet
Saint Patrick - patron saint
Saint Oliver Plunkett - Archbishop of Armagh, last Catholic martyr to die in England
Archbishop James Ussher - Irish primate & scholar

[edit] Politics

Mary McAleese - President of Ireland
Bertie Ahern - Taoiseach
Gerry Adams - Irish Republican politician and abstentionist, Westminster MP; president of Sinn Féin
Noel Browne - Politician
John Bruton - former Taoiseach
Ray Burke - Politician
Charles Carroll of Carrollton - sole Catholic signatory of the American Declaration of Independence
Michael Collins - Revolutionary, first president of the Irish Free State
Patrick Collins - former mayor of Boston
William T. Cosgrave - Second president of the Irish Free State
John F. Kennedy- President of the United States
Robert F. Kennedy - Former US Attorney General and Presidential candidate.
Thomas F. Gilroy - former mayor of New York City
William R. Grace - first Roman Catholic mayor of New York City
Charles Haughey - former Taoiseach
John Hume - former leader of the SDLP and co-laureate of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize
Hugh O'Brien - first Irish mayor of Boston
Daniel O'Connell - barrister and Irish emancipator
William O'Dwyer - former mayor of New York City
Brian Mulroney - Prime Minister of Canada 1984-1993
Tip O'Neill - Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Ian Paisley - British MP; leader of the DUP
Charles Stewart Parnell - leader of Irish Parliamentary Party
Albert Reynolds - former Taoiseach
Mary Robinson - seventh Irish president, United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights
Bobby Sands - 1981 Irish Hunger Strike participant, Westminster MP
David Trimble - former leader of the UUP and co-laureate of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize
Éamon de Valera - First Taoiseach and former Irish President

[edit] Science

Augustine Eriugena, fl. 655 - early Irish scientist.
Thomas Andrews - shipbuilder of the Titanic.
Robert Boyle - Natural philosopher, discoverer of Boyle's Law.
Patrick Browne - Doctor Botanist of Jamaica.
William Rowan Hamilton - mathematician & scientist, inventor of quaternions.
Lord Kelvin - mathematical physicist & Engineer.
Frank Pantridge - inventor of the portable defibrillator.
Ernest Walton - physicist & 1951 Nobel Prize winner for the first nuclear transmutation.
Nicholas Callan - priest at St. Patricks College, Maynooth, inventor of the induction coil.
Francis Beaufort - inventor of the Beaufort scale of wind intensity 1774-1857.
John Tyndall - physicist who discovered the Tyndall effect.
John Philip Holland - inventor of the modern submarine 1841 -1914.
George Johnstone Stoney - scientist who coined the word electron.
Kathleen Lonsdale - discovered the structure of benzene.

[edit] Sports

Francis Barrett - boxer
George Best - footballer
DJ Carey - hurler
Darren Clarke - golfer
Steve Collins - boxer
Johnny Giles - footballer
Shay Given - footballer
Padraig Harrington - golfer
Alex Higgins - former World Snooker champion
Eddie Irvine - Formula One driver
Denis Irwin - footballer
Eddie Jordan - Formula One racing driver and team owner
Robbie Keane - footballer
Roy Keane - footballer
Barry McGuigan - boxer
Brian O'Driscoll - rugby union
Pat Spillane - Gaelic footballer
Sonia O'Sullivan - long-distance runner
Michelle Smith - swimmer
Dennis Taylor - former World Snooker champion
Dave Finlay - Pro-Wrestler

[edit] Miscellaneous

William Burke - Edinburgh serial killer (see West Port murders)
Tom Crean - Antarctic explorer
Arthur Guinness - Brewer
William Hare - Edinburgh serial killer (see West Port murders)
Augustine Henry - Plantsman/Sinologist
Conan O'Brien - comedian/talk show host
James Hoban - designer of the White House
Grace O'Malley (Gráinne Ní Mháille) - pirate
Adi Roche - humanitarian
Ernest Shackleton - Antarctic explorer

[edit] Business/Finance

Marcus Daly - Copper King of Butte, Montana
Joseph McGrath - Co-Founder Irish Sweepstakes
Tony Ryan - entrepreneur
Thomas McLoughlin - Initiator Shannon Hydroelectric Scheme
William Mulvany - pioneer of German Coal Industry, 1806 - 1885
Michael O'Leary, CEO of Ryanair airlines
Tony O'Reilly - entrepreneur

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Image:Commons-logo.svg	Wikimedia Commons has media related to: People of Ireland

Irish surname origins
Y-chromosome variation and Irish origins (PDF File) (Nature, March 2000)
The Longue Durée of Genetic Ancestry: Multiple Genetic Marker Systems and Celtic Origins on the Atlantic Facade of Europe October 2004
A discussion board for Irish expatriates, Irish descendants and Irish people alike, specifically South East Ireland
Muhammad Ali Irish Heritage
[17]
[18]
Scotchirish.net: "Pioneers". Discussion on disproportionate census numbers of Irish and Scotch-Irish Americans. [19]
The Irishmen Fanlisting
Genetic study that links the Irish to Basques [20]
Origins of the Irish

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

↑ The Republic of Ireland 2002 census reports 3,508,407 people who were born on the island of Ireland. The 2001 UK census, in Northern Ireland, reports 1,573,319 people born on the island of Ireland. The combined total is 5,081,726. However, the total population of Ireland is much higher, due to recent large influx of immigrants.
↑ The UK 2001 census shows 750,657 people living in Britain who were born in Ireland [21][22]. The census also reports 691,232 people living in Britain who identified themselves as belonging to the Irish ethnic group. [23]
↑ The article "More Britons applying for Irish passports" states that 6 million Britons have either an Irish grandfather or grandmother and are thus able to apply for Irish citizenship. [24].

↑ The [25] American Community Survey 2004 by the United States Census Bureau estimates 34,487,790 persons claiming Irish ancestry and 5,323,888 people claiming Scotch-Irish ancestry. These figures are likely to be an underestimate of the true number with Irish and Scotch-Irish ancestry as some people will not have been aware of their Irish and Scotch-Irish ancestry, or will have chosen not to mention it. Both figures represent an increase from the previous census in 2000. The figure for Irish ancestry increased by approximately 4 million from the 2000 census, but decreased by approximately 4 million from the 1990 census. It should be mentioned that Irish was provided as one of the example responses on the 1990 census form, but not the 2000 census form[26]. This could be a partial explanation for the decrease in the number of those citing Irish ancestry in the censuses.
↑ The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports 1.9 million people of Irish ancestry in the 2001 Census. Up to two ancestries could be chosen. Recent increases in the number who identify as Australian suggest that this number is an underestimate of the true number with Irish ancestry. With that being said, the number claiming Irish ancestry from the previous census actually more than doubled. One reason, an improved image of what it means to be Irish according to the census experts, making Australians more proud to state their Irish ancestry.[27].
↑ 2001 Canadian Census gives 496,865 respondents stating their ethnic origin as Irish as a single response, and 3,325,800 including multiple responses, giving a combined total of 3,822,665. The introduction of a "Canadian" ethnic origin category and the large numbers of responses to this category will again alter the data.
↑ ^{[citation needed]}
↑ The following article discusses St. Patrick's Celebrations in Buenos Aires 2005 [28].
↑ European population substructure: Clustering of northern and southern populations. Michael F. Seldin et al. PLoS Genetics, Vol. 2, Issue 9, September 2006. Retrieved 1 October 2006.
↑ Euro-DNA manual, DNAPrint. Retrieved 16 September 2006.
↑ ^a Y-chromosome variation and Irish origins PDF File. Emmeline W. Hill, Mark A. Jobling, Daniel G. Bradley. Nature, Vol 404, 23 March 2000. Retrieved 30 December 2005.
↑ EVOLUTIONARY GENETICS: Europeans Trace Ancestry to Paleolithic PeopleAbstract, Ann Gibbons, Science, 10 November 2000: Vol. 290. no. 5494, pp. 1080 - 1081. Retrieved 30 December 2005.
↑ ^a A Y Chromosome Census of the British Isles; Cristian Capelli, Nicola Redhead, Julia K. Abernethy, Fiona Gratrix, James F. Wilson, Torolf Moen, Tor Hervig, Martin Richards, Michael P. H. Stumpf, Peter A. Underhill, Paul Bradshaw, Alom Shaha, Mark G. Thomas, Neal Bradman, and David B. Goldstein Current Biology, Volume 13, Issue 11, Pages 979-984 (2003). Retrieved 6 December 2005.